Healthywage

This is what everyone wants to hear about the most so I’ll start here. (They actually just interviewed me this morning because of my “success story” so I’ll post that as well once they publish it!)

Is it legit?

I had the same questions and did a LOT of research before committing to this. I first heard about HW from a savings blog I follow called the Penny Hoarder (here’s the article) and then tried to find as many reputable sources as possible that vouched for HW and there’s actually been a fair amount of news coverage on it. (Because I put my utmost trust in NPR, this was what cinched it for me.) I don’t have my check in hand yet (it takes 1-3 weeks to process), but I have no reason to think at this point they’re not going to pay me.

How do they decide how much you win?

It’s half what you’re willing to do and half odds. You get to play around with their winning calculator to find out what your pay-out would be up front so there are no surprises. You enter how much you want to lose, the time frame you want to lose it in and how much money you want to pay in, as well as some basic demographic info (age, sex, current weight, etc). They calculate the odds of your success and then give you a pay-out number. Then you get to decide if you like those odds. I decided I could pay in $50/month* for 12 months and that I wanted to lose 50lbs. They told me my pay out would be $1773. 

(*You pay in monthly installments, so it’s not like you have to fork over $600 straight out the gate).

How do they know what your starting weight is and if you’re actually losing weight?

They have an app that walks you through the initial weight verification process. Basically, you’ll put on some tight fitting clothing and use your phone to take a continuous video in which you: zero out your scale with your foot, then show a full body shot (front and side) in a mirror, then step on the scale to weigh in, then finish with another full body shot in the mirror. They’ll let you know if you did it wrong or need to re-do it, but it’s pretty straight forward. The only requirement is doing this once at the very beginning before your challenge can begin and then any time in the last two weeks of your challenge when you’ve reached your goal weight. You can do additional weigh-ins during your challenge, but you don’t have to. (I didn’t through the app, but I kept track for myself).

What’s the catch?

There really isn’t one except once you sign the contact, you’re in - there’s no getting out of it. The reason this worked for me is because there’s no backing out. In the past, I was really good about losing weight for about three months and then something would happen to disrupt my routine and I never made it back on track. I seriously did that for YEARS. This forced me to get back on track otherwise I was going to lose $600. There are a few exceptions listed in the contract (pregnancy, critical injury, etc), but the average person is locked in. You have the choice to quit at any time, but then you immediately owe them your entire pay-in.

What support do they offer you?

There's a whole online community of people doing exactly what you're trying to do. I didn't really participate in this, but it could be useful for some people. It seemed like there were a lot of tips and tricks being passed around and it could be a could source of support! 

My suggestions are:

A)  Be reasonable with your time frame – would it have been physically possible for me to lose 50lbs in 6 months, yes. Was it realistic? Hell no. If losing weight was easy, none of us would be reading this and I can tell you there was a HUGH learning curve for me in this process. The money is attractive, but you have to make sure you actually have a chance at winning it.

B) Be reasonable with your poundage – it’s a lot “easier” for a 5’8” 300lbs man to lose 50lbs than it would be for a 6’1” 200lbs man to lose 50lbs. On the whole, I don’t like BMI calculations for various reasons, but taking a look at your current BMI and subtracting enough weight for you to end up solidly in the “Normal” range* is a good way to estimate a reasonable amount of weight for you to lose. (*UGH, I hate the use of the word normal in these types of situations! Everyone’s different, only you can know what your body needs, but it’s fairly obvious to most of us if we need to lose a few pounds.)

C) Be reasonable with your money – PLEASE don’t bet a whole paycheck each month unless you’re 1000% sure you can live without that money in the end. There is totally a possibility that you won’t make it, lots of people don’t which is how this program can afford to pay people who win. I won my bet with only week to spare! That being said, if you can afford it, bet enough to make you care. Betting $300/month wasn’t reasonable given my current pay check and other living expenses, but also only losing $100 in the end probably would not have been enough to motivate me to see this through. $50/month was a reasonable sum for me to sacrifice from my paycheck and losing out on $600 in the end would have hurt (that’s a really nice plane ticket to Europe!) so it was enough that I couldn’t stomach losing it.

Have more questions? Let me know!